This invention relates to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to an electrical connector for making electrical connections to leadless integrated circuit packages.
There is an electronic component known as a leadless integrated circuit package which is used to house large scale integrated circuit devices. This type of package is characterized by having a plurality of conductive areas or pads which are equally spaced along the upper surface on one or more sides of the package. Many prior art electrical connectors have been devised for electrically connecting these types of packages to a printed circuit board located beneath the package. The printed circuit board is then used to provide the interconnections between the various packages and also to provide connections to the packages from input and output cables.
In many instances a leadless integrated circuit package is used to house a plurality of integrated circuit devices. For example, integrated circuits which perform the functions of a central processor, a digital memory, and input/output logic may all be housed in a single leadless package as part of a microprocessor system. However, high levels of power dissipation are encountered when several integrated circuits are operating within a single package.
The use of a printed circuit board as the mounting surface results in inadequate cooling due to poor thermal conductivity. To provide adequate cooling, it has been found desirable to directly mount these leadless packages to a metal surface which acts as a heat sink.
The use of a metal mounting surface necessitates a means for making electrical connections to the leadless integrated circuit packages which, unlike the prior art connectors, does not require a printed circuit board.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved electrical connector for leadless integrated circuit packages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for electrically interconnecting leadless integrated circuit packages without the use of a printed circuit board.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a connector for electrically connecting leadless integrated circuit packages to input and output cables without the use of a printed circuit board.